she will be the first u.s. cabinet official to travel to the area since a wave of uprisings swept through the region. clinton was speaking to a congressional panel on thursday. >> we have an enormous stake in ensuring that egypt and tunisia provide models for the kind of democracy that we want to see. >> in egypt, clinton will announce a $150 million aid package that will also help to finance an election. she will speak directly to the egyptian people. clinton will hold talks with members of libya's opposition, either in ton neez wra or egypt. -- either in tunisia or egypt. >>> new york stocks plunged nearly 230 points on thursday falling below the 12,000 mark for the first time in over a month. spain's credit downgrade and concerns about the middle east and north africa weighed on stocks. investors sold a wide range of shares after a major government rating agency downgraded spain's sovereign debt. that fueled concerns credit worries might spread to other european countries with huge debts. market sentiment to